So I’ve actually already posted and recorded the TikTok for this week’s topic, but I thought it best to do a little write-up anyway.
This week in Top 5 Wednesday, we are talking about Favorite Genres.
1. Romance
Right off the bat, if a good bit of the plot has to do with a Romance that ends in a Happily Ever After or a Happy For Now, I’ll be interested in reading it. If there is none or no significant amount of Romance, the chance of me bypassing your book entirely immediately rises to 80%.
I like my stories to be filled with people who fall in love with other people who are also in love with them. I am so serious about that. I can take no spice, but I absolutely refuse to take no romance. The only type of Romance I don’t like is a ridiculously problematic one.
I’m not even going to bother making any recommendations because Romance is all I read these days.
2. Fantasy
Fantasy employs a lot of my favorite Romance tropes like Soulmates and Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Arranged Marriages, and court politics. I’ve always said that I would get back into Katherin Addison’s The Goblin Emperor series, but I’ll never forget how much I enjoyed the first book for introducing me to the Fantasy of Manners subgenre.
I read a ton of Shifter Romances, and I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of them are not considered Science Fiction because – unless it’s specified to be science – the shifting part is usually always tied back to magic in some way. I’ve seen some authors – Theodora Taylor – try to tie things back to aliens, but the minute you start adding decidedly magical things like dragons and “fated mates” into the mix, you’re officially in Fantasy territory.
Time travel, by definition, should be a Science Fiction concept, but it tends to always come down to what method was used to achieve it. Twyla Turner’s Bound Through Time trilogy employs magic, and the addition of non-historical Vikings really seals the deal on the Fantasy label. Theodora Taylor has a set of Time-traveling Viking wolf shifters, and I just choose to pretend she never mentioned the possibility of aliens being the cause once. Because how?
3. Science Fiction
The line between Science Fiction and Fantasy can sometimes be really thin, and I didn’t really see it that way until somebody pointed out the difference between DC Comics’ Superman and Shazam (Captain Marvel). Superman is Science Fiction because he’s an alien and does things that could ultimately be boiled down to Science and Technology. Shazam is Fantasy because all of his powers come from gods and magic – which is also why he’s a fair fight for Superman.
I’m not always into classic Science Fiction which involves a lot of exploration and self-discovery, but I do read a lot of Shifter and Interspecies Romance which requires me to get technical.
Even though I have not talked about her in a bit, NK Jemisin is still my absolute favorite and her Broken Earth trilogy rocketed her to Science Fiction stardom. It’s not big on Romance, but I’ve always appreciated her showcasing Queer Romance and bisexuals. The Dreamblood Duology and the Inheritance trilogy are both very much Fantasy, but all three of the Broken Earth books won Nebula awards for a reason.
Elizabeth Stephens, Nikki Clarke, and Milana Jacks all write Interspecies Romance with varying degrees of human-like love interests. I believe Nikki Clarke and Milana Jacks also write Shifter Romances, but I know them best for their aliens. I’ve only known Elizabeth Stephens to write Science Fiction Romance, but that’s not to say she won’t try werewolves at some point.
4. Epic Adventure
If you’ve been with me since my Fandom Following / Fandomentals days, then you know that I was very much into George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series and it’s TV adaptation, Game of Thrones. And those two count as Fantasy due to the mixture of courts, nobility, magic, and dragons, but it’s ultimately an Epic Adventure because of the journey from “my foster dad may have been murdered” to “my Secret Prince Nephew has to Save the Kingdom from his Powerful But Crazy aunt after he Saves the Kingdom from his Birthright Prophecy”.
It’s safe to say that an Epic Adventure is a big part of what makes a good Fantasy, but your Epic Adventure does not need to be a Fantasy nor does your Fantasy need an Epic Adventure. Justina Ireland’s Dread Nation series can be best described as Alternate History mixed with Science Fiction, but the thing that drives the plot is the Epic Adventure. Mo Xian Tong Xiu’s Heaven Official’s Blessing and Tang Qi’s To The Sky Kingdom are best characterized by their Epic Adventures, even if you consider the film and television versions of Tang Qi’s work Chinese costume dramas. Felicia Davin’s Thornfruit is basically Fantasy, but it encompasses some Action Adventure and ultimately becomes an Epic Adventure as the series goes on.
Ultimately, I just like a good journey. I like a story that pulls together a number of threads that help to bolster the main plot, and I find that in a lot of Epic Adventure.
5. Thrillers
I think I should be clear and say that I mean Suspense Thrillers specifically, because I do not read Horror. I like when my stories keep me guessing until the last page. Even if I know who did it, I still want to see the journey to how they got there.
I’ve said before that I think that CA Wittman is really good at thrillers because she knows how to pull multi-faceted stories together. Audrey Miller’s Birth Order ending didn’t hit the way I wanted it to, but the build-up was pretty good.
Kenya Wright’s Missing Hearts and Mine surprised me, but she’s really good at giving you a steamy romance that’s actually hiding a good plot. Amarie Avant had a good two-book run of thrillers when she published Devil in Her Bed and Diablo Inside. Do not sleep on these Erotic Romance authors.
Yvonne Bennett is best known, to me and my audience, as a Dark Romance writer, but a lot of the plots are driven by Suspense. Deadly Matrimony was probably her best attempt at a thriller, but I appreciated it after the trauma that was Escorted into the Mafia.
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I know that some of my picks can be considered sub-genres – and Romance was an overarching theme – but I personally don’t care. I like what I like.
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Eurydice Howell 